Attachment_Q_CUVA_S1_2021_0001.pdf

BOSTON

Boston Mill Visitor Center

Boston Mills Ski Resort

Jaite

PENINSULA

Indigo Lake

Kendall Lake

Everett Covered Bridge

Cuyahoga Valley Environmental Education Center

Deep Lock Quarry

Hunt House

Hale Farm & Village

Blossom Music Center

Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail

Countryside Farmers’ Market at Howe Meadow

Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad

Beaver Marsh

America’s Byway

Ledges

Station Road Bridge

Tinkers Creek Gorge

Brandywine Falls

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Canal Exploration Center

ILLUSTRATION NPS / GREG HARLIN

TRANSPORTATION Native Americans who canoed the lower Cuyahoga River found it offered a favorable portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River.

In the 1700s European fur traders set up temporary trading posts along the lower river, where they exchanged cloth, metal, and guns for pelts.

In the early 1800s engineers diverted water from the lower Cuyahoga River for a canal that, for a few decades, was an important link in an inland shipping network.

WATERFALLS Visit the park’s many falls in any season. Water tumbles over rocks that were formed when inland seas covered the continent.

Delicate plant communities grow in these moist, cool areas. Brandy-wine Falls is near the remains of a lost village.

PARKS TO THE PEOPLE Visitors from cities nearby took leisure rides to Cuyahoga Valley via the canal and railway. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built picnic shelters, lakes, play fi elds, and parking lots during the Depression.

Ledges and Kendall Lake have examples.

In the 1950s new roads and highways made possible larger-scale attractions like Blossom Music Center.

Congress established Cuyahoga Valley National Park in 1974 as part of Parks to the People, a civil rights initiative to create national parks in metropolitan areas.

RENEWAL In 1969 the Cuyahoga River fi re in Cleveland focused national attention on water pollution. The fi re led to environ-mental activism, new laws, and the realization that protecting water is a shared responsibility.

AGRICULTURE Native Americans farmed maize, beans, and squash here. Jonathan and Mercy Hale were among the fi rst European American farmers in the valley.

Experience their legacy at Hale Farm & Village, a living history museum. Country-side operates farmers’ markets year-round and assists with park-leased farms.

WILDLIFE RETURNS Beavers were absent from Ohio for a century, but began to return in numbers in the 1970s. They fl ooded a former auto salvage yard and created a marsh.

Great blue herons and otters have also re-established, thanks to more wetlands and a cleaner river.

Tinkers Creek Gorge

SCENIC VIEWS Cuyahoga Valley has a long history as a place where people from Cleveland and Akron connect with nature. In the 1920s community leaders established Bedford Reservation, including Tinkers Creek Gorge, to protect the upland scenery. Its deciduous forest offers spectacular color in fall.

YOUTH OUTDOORS Three scout camps and Camp Mueller, run by the Phillis Wheatley Association (the

“Black YWCA”), began in the 1930s.

The park’s overnight environmental education center serves schools and other groups. For student safety, these sites are closed to the public.

Native Americans who canoed the lower Cuyahoga River found it offered a favorable portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River.

In the 1700s European fur traders set up temporary trading posts along the lower river, where they exchanged cloth, metal, The Ohio & Erie Canal connected heart-land farms to East Coast ports, launched Cleveland and Akron as major cities, and helped build a national trade economy.

Today the park preserves and adapts the Cuyahoga Valley’s historic canal, and the railroad that supplanted it, for recreation.

In 1969 the Cuyahoga pollution. The fi re led to environ-

When water recovers, wildlife recovers. In 2007 a pair of bald eagles nesting near Station Road Bridge raised the fi rst chick ever recorded in the valley. A visit to the park shows people and nature working together.

Villages like Boston developed along the Ohio & Erie Canal in the early 1800s. By mid-century, Boston had boat yards, a lumber mill, a brickyard, and a warehouse.

Canal transport became obsolete in the 1880s, when the railroad arrived. Along tracks laid on the west side of the river, Valley Railway moved farm produce and goods faster, and at less cost.

One of the newer businesses built beside the tracks made roofi ng paper and paper sacks to hold fl our. The factory’s former company store is now Boston Mill Visitor Center. Rangers and volunteers can help you plan a visit to suit your interests, time, and needs. The river, train, canal towpath, and scenic byway are only steps away.

Boston Heart of the Park

Before the Cuyahoga River empties into Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland (above), it snakes through a green, welcoming valley. People have relied on the river for thousands of years. The lower Cuyahoga was part of early transportation networks. Later it powered industry and grew cities. It became infamous for its pollution, rallying the nation. Today a cleaner Cuyahoga River shows us how nature’s renewal benefi ts the entire metropolitan area.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park protects the river between Akron and Cleve-land. It is a patchwork of natural areas, villages, and small farms. Families stroll after dinner along the canal towpath. Water lilies part as a lone beaver swims across a marsh. Valley slopes teem with skiers and sledders in winter.

Uplands offer forests, rock ledges, and waterfalls to inspire the spirit.

Along the Crooked River

Cuyahoga Valley National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

Cuyahoga Valley National Park Ohio

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